Magic's Promise

  I really liked this one.  There were about a million different directions Lackey could have gone in with the end of Magic's Pawn but I'm glad she chose this one in particular.  Magic's Promise doesn't pick up right after the end of its predecessor, instead it takes us 13 years into the future.  Vanyel is no longer a love-stricken teenager, he's now a 28-year old full blown Herald-Mage who has seen and done some insane shit since he was 15.  We get bits and pieces as to what he's done but we aren't directly told all of it, which is a smart decision in my opinion.  All we need to know is that Vanyel has been worn down by his duties and he is exhausted.  He still hasn't totally gotten over the loss of Tylandel and you can feel his pain every time he's mentioned.  Vanyel's mental state is the main focus of the book and he is absolutely a compelling-enough protagonist to pull it off.     As for other new things, there are quite a few of them in Promise.  The cast gets expanded, the existing cast gets developed and we see a ton of different locations, making Valdemar feel like a very real, alive place.  I know that Lackey has written a ton of books set in Valdemar and you can tell she just has such a control of this world.  The expanded cast also helps to separate this book from Pawn.  Tashir and Medren are the obvious stand-outs here as characters who exist on their own while also adding a lot to Vanyel.  But the best part about this book has to be the development of Jervis and Withen.  In Pawn they're pretty cartoonishly evil, but Lackey makes them so much more sympathetic here.  Their turnarounds aren't especially subtle but they're still quite heartwarming.    All in all this is a really strong sequel and I look forward to finishing the trilogy with Magic's Price.